Review of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days (2010) by Kim B — 15 Apr 2011

Maan, this movie did not need to be as bad as it ended up being. It seemed to remove all the narrative strengths of the first movie, and focussed instead on the villains. Sure they're scary, but they're not terribly interesting.

And they didn't flesh Lilith out enough to make her a believable foe, let alone an engaging one. Why, exactly is she the head vampire? Where did her power come from? Why did she order the siege of Barrrow? Why would anyone willingly work for these vampires? I don't remember the comics being this derivative.

The characters here seem flatter, the story logic seems a little more slippery and the scares a little more foundless. Stella wasn't a particularly likeable character, and she doesn't really make any friends worth watching, either.

I didn't care what happened to thier ragtag team of vampire slayers. Also, the element of "we're trapped here in Vampireland" that was so vital to the original is cut back significantly in this movie.

I think this movie should have spent more time underground in the vampires' sunless base, or on the ship, to best recreate the atmosphere that really defined the first. I think, anyway.